docs: add Linux network-boot runbook

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# Runbook: Boot a Linux machine from an ISO over the network
End-to-end walkthrough: spin up PXEForge, load an Ubuntu (or any
Linux) ISO into it, target a specific bare-metal or VM client by its
MAC address, and have that machine PXE-boot the installer over the
LAN — no USB stick, no console babysitting.
This runbook assumes:
- You have **one Linux host** to run the PXEForge container (any
distro with Docker / Podman; 2 GB RAM, ~50 GB disk for the ISO
library).
- That host sits on the **same broadcast domain / VLAN** as the
client you want to boot. PXE is L2-broadcast — routed/VLANd
networks need a DHCP relay and are out of scope here.
- An **existing DHCP server** is already handing out IP leases on
that VLAN (your home router, OPNsense, Windows Server, etc.).
PXEForge runs as a *DHCP proxy* — it never leases IPs, it only
layers the boot information on top of the existing DHCP exchange.
- The target client is configured to **PXE-boot** in BIOS/UEFI
firmware (usually `F12` boot menu → Network, or set as first boot
device).
If those dont hold, stop and read [troubleshooting.md](troubleshooting.md)
or [docs/architecture.md](../docs/architecture.md) first.
---
## 0. Pick your hosts LAN IP
You need the IPv4 address PXEForge will advertise to clients. From
the host:
```bash
ip -4 -o addr show | awk '{print $2, $4}'
```
Pick the address on the interface that faces the PXE VLAN — for
example `10.0.0.5/24` on `eno1`. From here on we call it
`PXE_HOST_IP`.
> **Why this matters.** Every URL handed to clients (TFTP server,
> iPXE chain URL, ISO URL) is built from this IP. If PXEForge
> auto-detects the wrong interface or loopback, clients will fetch
> from an unreachable address and silently fail. The startup will
> *fail loudly* if it can only auto-detect a loopback address.
---
## 1. Run PXEForge
The MVP path is a single `docker run` against the published image,
with `--network host` so the container can see DHCP broadcasts on
the LAN.
```bash
mkdir -p ~/pxeforge/isos ~/pxeforge/work
docker run -d --name pxeforge \
--restart unless-stopped \
--network host \
-e PXEFORGE_PUBLIC_IP=10.0.0.5 \
-e PXEFORGE_DHCP_MODE=proxy \
-v ~/pxeforge/isos:/var/lib/pxeforge/isos \
-v ~/pxeforge/work:/var/lib/pxeforge/work \
ghcr.io/YOUR-ORG/pxeforge:0.2.0
```
Substitute your `PXEFORGE_PUBLIC_IP`, of course. If youre building
from this repo instead of pulling, see the
[README quick start](../README.md#quick-start--mvp-container-recommended).
### Verify its alive
```bash
curl -fsS http://10.0.0.5/healthz # → 200 ok
curl -fsS http://10.0.0.5/readyz # → 200 ready (iPXE binaries present)
curl -fsS http://10.0.0.5/api/status | jq .
```
If `/readyz` is **not** 200, your container is missing iPXE binaries.
Fix that before going further — clients have nothing to boot
otherwise. See [README — Container health probes](../README.md#container-health-probes).
### Check the listening ports
PXEForge holds three privileged UDP/TCP ports. From another shell on
the host:
```bash
sudo ss -lnup | grep -E ':(67|69|4011)\b' # DHCP proxy + TFTP
sudo ss -lntp | grep ':80\b' # HTTP UI / boot scripts
```
All four should be present. If port 67 is taken by `dnsmasq` or the
hosts own DHCP, stop that service or run PXEForge on a separate box —
two listeners on `:67` will fight.
---
## 2. Load the ISO
Two options. Pick one.
### 2a. Web UI upload (recommended for one-offs)
1. Open `http://10.0.0.5/` in a browser.
2. Sidebar → **Storage**.
3. Click **Upload ISO**, pick e.g. `ubuntu-24.04.1-live-server-amd64.iso`.
4. Wait for upload + introspection. The row turns into a card showing:
- Distro family (`debian_ubuntu`)
- Volume label
- Detected kernel/initrd paths (`/casper/vmlinuz`, `/casper/initrd`)
- File size and SHA-256
Big ISOs stream — there is no 2 GB limit, but expect upload to be
gated by your browser ↔ host link. The UI shows a progress bar; the
animated anvil on the Dashboard tab fires up while imaging is in
flight.
### 2b. Bulk seed from a directory (recommended for fresh deploys / CI)
If you already have a folder of ISOs on the host, skip the browser:
```bash
# Dry run first — see what would be imported, no writes:
docker exec pxeforge pxeforge seed \
--from /seed \
--dry-run
# For real, mount the source dir read-only into the container:
docker run --rm \
-v /my/iso-library:/seed:ro \
-v ~/pxeforge/isos:/var/lib/pxeforge/isos \
-v ~/pxeforge/work:/var/lib/pxeforge/work \
-e PXEFORGE_PUBLIC_IP=10.0.0.5 \
ghcr.io/YOUR-ORG/pxeforge:0.2.0 seed --from /seed
```
Each `*.iso` in `/seed` runs through the same upload pipeline as the
web UI: copy → introspection → boot-entry generation → metadata
sidecar. Re-running is idempotent.
### Confirm the ISO is registered
```bash
curl -fsS http://10.0.0.5/api/isos | jq '.[] | {id, name, family, size}'
```
You should see something like:
```json
{
"id": "ubuntu-24-04-1-live-server-amd64",
"name": "ubuntu-24.04.1-live-server-amd64.iso",
"family": "debian_ubuntu",
"size": 2748000000
}
```
The `id` is the **slug**. Remember it — youll bind a MAC to it in
the next step.
---
## 3. Find the target machines MAC address
You need the MAC of the **NIC that will PXE**, not the OSs
loopback or wifi.
### 3a. From the target itself (if its already running an OS)
```bash
ip -o link | awk '/ether/ {print $2, $17}' # Linux
```
Pick the line for the wired NIC plugged into the PXE VLAN.
### 3b. From the firmware (if its a fresh box)
Most BIOS/UEFI screens display the NIC MAC during the network-boot
attempt — usually as `MAC: AA-BB-CC-DD-EE-FF` flashing on the splash
right before "PXE-E53: No boot filename received". Write it down.
### 3c. By letting it boot once and watching PXEForge
Easiest if the box is in front of you:
1. Power on, hit `F12`, pick **Network boot**.
2. Without any binding configured, the client will land on the
PXEForge menu (Default / Installers / Tools / Gated Deployment).
3. Dont pick anything. On your laptop:
```bash
curl -fsS http://10.0.0.5/api/clients | jq .
```
4. The most-recent entry is your target. Copy its `mac`.
From here on we call this MAC `TARGET_MAC` (e.g. `aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff`).
Hyphens vs colons, upper vs lower case — PXEForge normalizes both.
---
## 4. Pin that machine to the Ubuntu ISO
This is the **per-MAC host binding**. With it set, the client wont
see the menu at all — it goes straight to the bound boot entry,
Tinkerbell-style.
### 4a. Via the web UI
1. Sidebar → **Hosts**.
2. **Add binding**:
- **MAC**: `aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff`
- **Target**: pick `ubuntu-24-04-1-live-server-amd64` from the dropdown.
- **Label**: free-form, e.g. `lab-rack3-node07`.
3. Save.
### 4b. Via the API
```bash
curl -fsS -X POST http://10.0.0.5/api/hosts \
-H 'content-type: application/json' \
-d '{
"mac": "aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff",
"target": "ubuntu-24-04-1-live-server-amd64",
"label": "lab-rack3-node07"
}' | jq .
```
The binding is persisted to `~/pxeforge/work/hosts.json` and survives
container restart.
### Confirm
```bash
curl -fsS http://10.0.0.5/api/hosts | jq '.[] | select(.mac=="aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff")'
```
You should see your entry with `created_at` and `updated_at`
timestamps.
---
## 5. Trigger the network boot on the target
Now actually boot the machine.
### 5a. Boot order
In firmware setup, set the wired NIC as the **first** boot device
(or hold `F12` / `F9` / `Esc` — vendor-specific — to pick "Network
Boot" interactively).
### 5b. What you should see on the target screen
In order, with timing:
| Stage | Approximate duration | What appears |
|-------|---------------------:|--------------|
| Firmware DHCPDISCOVER | ~1 s | `Start PXE over IPv4` / `Station IP address …` |
| TFTP iPXE binary fetch | ~1 s | `TFTP… snponly.efi` (or `undionly.kpxe` for legacy BIOS) |
| iPXE banner | ~1 s | The blue iPXE splash, version string |
| iPXE second-stage DHCP | ~1 s | `Configuring (net0 …)` then `ok` |
| HTTP boot script fetch | <1 s | `http://10.0.0.5/boot.ipxe?mac=…` |
| Per-MAC chain | <1 s | `PXEForge: per-MAC binding -> ubuntu-24-04-1-…` |
| Kernel + initrd HTTP | 530 s | Two 200-OK fetches against `/iso/<id>/casper/vmlinuz` and `…/initrd` |
| Kernel boot | 510 s | Kernel banner, then the Ubuntu/cloud-init splash |
| Installer comes up | 3060 s | The distros normal Live/installer environment |
If everything works, youre looking at the Ubuntu Server installer
welcome screen end-to-end **without ever touching a USB stick**.
### 5c. Watch it from the server
In a third shell, tail the live log:
```bash
curl -N http://10.0.0.5/api/log/stream
```
Youll see each protocol step as it happens:
```
INFO pxeforge::dhcp: reply mac=aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff arch=X8664Uefi target=tftp/snponly.efi
INFO pxeforge::tftp: RRQ snponly.efi blksize=1468 windowsize=8 → 982 KiB in 412 ms
INFO pxeforge::dhcp: reply mac=aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff (iPXE) target=http/boot.ipxe
INFO pxeforge::http: GET /boot.ipxe?mac=aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff → host binding hit
INFO pxeforge::http: GET /iso/ubuntu-…/casper/vmlinuz Range=bytes=0- 200 OK 14 MiB
INFO pxeforge::http: GET /iso/ubuntu-…/casper/initrd Range=bytes=0- 200 OK 75 MiB
```
The **Terminal** tab in the web UI shows the same thing live, plus a
short whitelisted command palette (`status`, `clients`, `gate`,
`hosts`, `log`).
### 5d. Internet-side ISO sources
The runbook title says “via the internet” — the **client** itself
boots from your LAN, but the underlying ISO can come from anywhere
your *host* can reach:
- **Direct upload** from a remote workstation via the web UI (HTTPS
reverse-proxied if you put PXEForge behind nginx/Caddy).
- **NFS mount** of a remote share — Sidebar → **Storage** → **NFS** →
`nfs://files.lab.example.com/exports/isos`. Mounted ISOs show up in
the same list and are PXE-bootable directly without copying.
- **Pre-seed** from a CI job that `curl`s a vendor mirror and runs
`pxeforge seed --from`.
PXEForge itself never reaches out to the internet at boot time — all
client traffic stays on the LAN, served from the host.
---
## 6. After the install
Once Ubuntu has finished installing to the targets disk, you want
the next reboot to come up off the new local disk, **not** PXE
again. Two ways:
### 6a. One-shot — release the binding
```bash
curl -fsS -X DELETE http://10.0.0.5/api/hosts/aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff
```
Without a binding, the client either gets the menu (BIOS still set
to PXE first) or boots local disk normally.
### 6b. Permanent — pin to local disk
Re-bind to the reserved local-boot target:
```bash
curl -fsS -X POST http://10.0.0.5/api/hosts \
-H 'content-type: application/json' \
-d '{ "mac": "aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff", "target": "_local", "label": "lab-rack3-node07 (installed)" }'
```
Now if anyone hits `F12 → Network` by accident, PXEForge replies
with a script that says *"chain back to local HDD"* and the box
boots its real OS instead of re-imaging itself. This is the safest
default for production hardware.
---
## 7. Re-imaging — the “Gated Deployment” flow
Different scenario: you have **a rack of 30 servers** to image
identically, all at once. Dont bind 30 MACs by hand. Use the gate.
1. **Dont** create host bindings.
2. PXE-boot every machine. They land on the menu.
3. On each: select **Gated Deployment**. They get position #1, #2,
…, #30 and start long-polling.
4. In the UI: **Forge Gate** tab shows all 30 lined up. Pick the
ISO, click **Assign to all waiting**.
5. Every clients open long-poll wakes up at the same instant and
chains the same boot script. They all start imaging
simultaneously — the “horse race gate” opens.
The animated anvil widget on the Dashboard runs while any client is
still in the kernel-fetch phase.
---
## Cheat sheet
| Goal | Command |
|------|---------|
| Health check | `curl http://$IP/healthz` |
| List ISOs | `curl http://$IP/api/isos \| jq .` |
| List clients seen | `curl http://$IP/api/clients \| jq .` |
| Bind MAC → ISO | `POST /api/hosts` with `{mac,target,label}` |
| Bind MAC → local disk | same with `target=_local` |
| Release binding | `DELETE /api/hosts/<mac>` |
| Live log | `curl -N http://$IP/api/log/stream` |
| Prometheus metrics | `curl http://$IP/metrics` |
| Bulk import folder | `pxeforge seed --from /path` |
---
## Where to look when things break
- **Client gets `PXE-E53: No boot filename received`** — DHCP proxy
isnt replying. Check `:67` is bound (`ss -lnup`), check
`--network host`, check the host firewall on UDP 67/69/4011.
- **iPXE shows `No more network devices`** — firmware NIC isnt in
PXE mode, or VLAN tagging is wrong.
- **iPXE prints `Connection timed out (http://…)`** — `PXEFORGE_PUBLIC_IP`
is wrong. Clients cant reach that IP. Check `/api/status` →
`public_base_url` and `ping` it from the client subnet.
- **Kernel panics during initrd load** — corrupt ISO upload. Check
`/api/isos`, compare the SHA-256 to the vendors, re-upload.
- **Boot menu shows but the bound entry doesnt fire** — the binding
target slug doesnt match any ISO `id`. Recheck
`GET /api/hosts` against `GET /api/isos`. The binding falls back
to the menu on miss (by design — never lock a client out).
- **General confusion** — Terminal tab → `status`, then `log`. That
tells you what protocol stages have run and which havent.
For deeper protocol-level debugging, see
[docs/architecture.md](../docs/architecture.md).